Ultrasonographs utilizing ultrasonic waves have been widely used in the medical field. An ultrasonograph generally includes (i) an ultrasonic probe which transmits and receives an ultrasonic wave and (ii) a main device (housing).
The ultrasonograph operates as follows. That is, (i) the ultrasonic probe transmits an ultrasonic wave, which is generated by transducers included in the ultrasonic probe, to a diagnostic target, (ii) the ultrasonic probe then receives a reflected ultrasonic wave, and (iii) the main device electrically processes a received signal, which is based on the reflected ultrasonic wave, so as to create an ultrasonic image.
Generally, such an ultrasonograph includes a plurality of ultrasonic probes, and any one of the plurality of ultrasonic probes is selected in accordance with a diagnostic target. For this reason, an ultrasonograph is generally provided with a switching section for switching between ultrasonic probes to be used. According to a current general ultrasonograph, such a switching section is realized by relay circuits mounted on a substrate.
Such relay circuits, however, cause the following problem. Specifically, since it is necessary to provide relay circuits depending on the number of transducers included in each of ultrasonic probes, a size of a substrate may become large. This can make it difficult to downsize an entire ultrasonograph. Furthermore, there is a problem that multi-layering of substrates, on each of which a relay circuit(s) is/are provided, causes the substrates to be expensive.
To address the above problem, Patent Literature 1 discloses providing a probe connector, via which an ultrasonic probe and a main device of an ultrasonograph are connected to each other, with a switching section that switches between (i) a connected state where the ultrasonic probe and the main device are connected to each other and (ii) a non-connected state where the ultrasonic probe and the main device are not connected to each other. According to the probe connector disclosed in Patent Literature 1, the connected state and the non-connected state are switched by, with use of a drive motor, causing probe-side electrodes to move so that the probe-side electrodes are connected to or separated from respective housing-side electrodes. This eliminates the need for providing the ultrasonograph with a relay circuit, and thereby allows a reduction in size of the ultrasonograph and a reduction in cost of the ultrasonograph.